Paint the Sky
by Lordoftheghostking28
Summary: When an artist dies, they get one last chance at being remembered.


**Paint the Sky**

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**Just a drabble written when I was on break at work.**

**I you squint really hard you can see slight SasoDei, but I don't know. It wasn't really intended.**

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"Senpai, why do you look so sad? Do you want some food? I have some food!" Tobi began digging around in the slightly battered pouch under his cloak.

"No, Tobi. I don't want any food. We just ate, hm."

"Oh, ok. Do you want to take a break? Are you tired?"

"We took a break while we ate." Deidara heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Do you need a hug, senpai?" Tobi tilted his head to the side.

"Don't touch me, hm!" Deidara growled.

Tobi slowed his walking pace. "Then why is senpai sad?"

Deidara sighed again and didn't answer. He just kept walking, not casting Tobi a second glance.

"Is senpai sad over Sasori?" Tobi inquired.

Deidara stumbled and quickly recovered. "No." He said a bit too quickly. "Shut up, hm."

"Oooohh, senpai IS still sad over Sasori." Tobi nodded to himself.

"I said SHUT UP!" Deidara hissed.

"It's ok to be sad, senpai." Tobi said in the most serious voice he could imagine. "Tobi is sad sometimes too."

"I find that hard to believe, hm," Deidara stopped walking and turned his gaze to the sky.

"Break time!" Tobi declared, running up and sitting beside his partner. "Tobi read in a book that talking is good to not be sad."

Deidara shot a seething look down at his comrade, biting back a question of, 'you can READ?' And instead clenched both fists.

"Come on, senpai! Sit down next to Tobi!" Tobi patted Deidara's foot. "I don't like you being taller than me!"

Deidara hesitated. His feet were still sore from the endless walking they had done over the past few days. A rest would do them both good. He grudgingly sat down next to his partner, making sure there was enough space between them so Tobi couldn't ambush hug him.

"Being sad about Sasori-senpai is ok." Tobi started. "Tobi has lost friends too."

"He wasn't my friend, hm." Deidara mumbled.

"But you liked to talk a lot and friends talk to each other!" Tobi protested.

"He was a respectable artist and nothing more, hm... Even if I disagreed with him sometimes."

"So then you were friends!"

Deidara glared. "Fine. Whatever. We were friends."

"I knew it!" Tobi pumped both fists into the air. "And losing an artist friend hurts, doesn't it?"

"No. He said he would live forever as a work of art, hm. How ironic that he went and got himself killed."

Tobi sighed. "You're just sad so you're mad."

"You're not making any sense, hm," Deidara growled.

"Senpai, I'm trying to make you feel better!"

Deidara only glared and turned his gaze to the sky. The setting sun painted a beautiful, fiery display in the distance.

"Tobi once read in a book that when an artist dies, they get to paint the sky."

Deidara shifted his gaze back to Tobi.

"That's why the sky is so pretty." The masked idiot continued. "They paint it like they want it, even if it is just for an evening."

Deidara glanced back at the sky and then at the ground. The colours were so intense, the grass had a slight orange-red tinge to it.

"And Tobi thinks that when the artists die, they wait to paint the sky for when someone they were friends with needs to see it." Tobi waved up at the clouds. "Tobi thinks Sasori-senpai painted it today for you!"

Deidara directed his gaze back at the sky. "I don't know, Tobi. Sasori wouldn't want to bother with something so fleeting, hm. It's something I would do, not him."

Tobi thought for a second longer. "Maybe he wanted to do something you would do so you could do something he would do?"

"What are you talking about?" Deidara frowned. "You're not making any sense, hm."

"Maybe Sasori painted the sky so you could immortalize it." Tobi shrugged, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Deidara watched the sky again, slowly becoming aware that it was beginning to get darker. Without much of a second thought, he began rummaging through his own pack, pulling out a battered and tiny paintbrush and empty scroll. A few tubes of paint followed, most of them twisted and nearly out of colour.

Deidara quickly began throwing lines of bright reds and oranges across the scroll, blurring the colours together and creating the basic layout of the sky. Glancing upward, he began to work in the detail lighting; drawing the beams of golden light that still filtered down into the trees.

Tobi watched the sunset, fiddling with his Akatsuki ring. Every second seemed to bring more darkness than the last.

"There, hm." Deidara declared, brushing his hair out of his face and leaving a streak of orange across his headband.

"Oooh!" Tobi said in awe. "It looks just like a picture! Senpai should paint more often!"

"It's not my style." Deidara said. "Now come on...I have to find some water to rinse this out." He held up the colour-smeared paintbrush and began walking.

Tobi gently picked up the painting, careful to not smear the edges. The way the colours blended and mixed was simply outstanding! There was more talent in this piece alone than he could ever hope to have.

"Deidara-senpai, you should make sure Kakuzu doesn't find this!" Tobi ran to catch up with him.

"Why?"

"He might try and sell it. And then you would get famous and the Akatsuki would have to kick you out and Tobi would miss you a lot like you miss Sasori except you're not dead."

Deidara snatched the painting of the sky back from him and quickly rolled it up after checking to see it was dry. "Don't tell anyone, then."

"Oooh, so this is a secret?" Tobi whispered loudly.

"Yeah, sure, hm." Deidara rolled his eyes.

Tobi skipped along his senpai as they continued down the path. The darkness had turned the vibrant oranges and reds of the sky to deep purple and blue. Light was scarce and the only part Tobi could see of Deidara was his blonde hair.

"See, senpai? Sasori painted the sky for you. He knew you would like it. And you painted him a picture so you could always see it."

"Hm," Deidara muttered. "Or maybe he was acknowledging that fleeting art is by far the superior."

Tobi sighed. "If you think so, senpai..."

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**Bleh.**

**I want to write a lot of action now, this boring stuff is killing me. But I am getting a lot of characterization done (I hope). I'm working to flesh out a lot of characters for a story I'm writing and it helps to kinda practice with people already invented.**

**Hurray for my 90th story!**

**Please leave a review!**

**Hasta la Vista, Readers!**

**Lordoftheghostking28**


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